602 Transactions. 



extending over seventeen years. In a paper read before the Otago In- 

 stitute* in 1873 he made special mention of the furrowing of the hills and 

 ranges so remarkably general in Otago. 



Mr. Thomson's view as to the magnitude of the ancient glaciation of 

 Otago did not receive the support of Hutton or Hector ; but the only active 

 opposition, except as to the striated boulders at Kaikorai Valley, came 

 from Mr. W. T. L. Travers, the well-known advocate, of WeUington. Mr. 

 Travers disagreed with Thomson's views, but did not visit Otago or even 

 challenge the facts adduced by the latter as to the evidence of ancient 

 glaciation. He did not attempt to explain the origin of the smooth, flow- 

 ing contours, the furrowed and truncated hills and ridges, or the morainic 

 deposits. He merely contented himself with the general statement that 

 in the South Island there was during the glacial period a great extension 

 of the valley glaciers, but no ice-sheet. 



Mr. Travers, in discussing the cause of the greater extension of the 

 glaciers, thought it was due to an elevation of the land amounting, in his 

 opinion, to 5,000 ft. or 6,000 ft. In dealing with the glaciation of Otago, I 

 only asked for an uplift of 3,000 ft. The 5,000 ft. or 6,000 ft. uplift con- 

 ceded by Travers will do all and more than all Thomson asked for. In the 

 first place, it would lower the mean temperature of the South Island below 

 freezing-point throughout the whole year ; and, in the second place, it would 

 unite New Zealand with the Antarctic continent by a nearly continuous 

 land connection. With such a low temperature and increase of land-area 

 it is obvious that not only the South Island, but in all probability the 

 greater portion of the North Island, would be in the grip of King Frost 

 and dominated by ice. 



Dr. Marshall objects to the silts or clays of Oamaru and Timaru being 

 given a glacial origin. He states that we have the authority of Haast, 

 Heim, Hardcastle, and others that they consist of wind-blown dust or 

 loess. But to say the silts are loess does not disprove their glacial origin. 

 The origin of the loess of Northern China, Russia, and North America has, 

 like that of New Zealand loess, been a subject of keen discussion. Some 

 have maintained that it was purely wind-blown, others that it was of 

 subaqueous origin ; but all have recognised that wherever it was found 

 it occurred in the neighbourhood of glaciated regions. Sir Archibald 

 Geikiet and other geologists believe that it is "a flood-loam of glacial 

 times." 



Writing of the loess deposits of Europe, Geikie says the vast accumula- 

 tions of loess in southern and south-east Russia doubtless owe their origin 

 chiefly to the flood- waters escaping from the margin of old land-ice. 



ChamberUn and Salisbury^ say that " The best-known portions of the 

 loess in America and Europe are associated with glacial formations." 



The contention that the clays of Oamaru and Timaru are loess is, after 

 all, a proof of their glacial origin, which adds further confirmation of my 

 contention as to the extension of the Pleistocene glaciers towards the 

 present coast-line. 



The thickness of the ice-sheet at the lower end of Lake Wakatipu was 

 not less than 7,000 ft. — was probably much greater. But, taking it at 

 5,000 ft., it would surmount everything between that place and the east 



* J. T. Thomson, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. vi, p. 312. 



t A. Geikie. " Earth Sculpture," p. 192 ; 1902. 



% Gliamberlin and Salisbury, '' Geology," vol. iii, p. 405. 



